Damian Erskine

Columnist

Damian’s popular “Ask Damian Erskine” column debuted on June 24th, 2009, and it has been going strong ever since. Damian is an adjunct professor at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon and has also appeared as an instructor at Gerald Veasley’s Bass Bootcamp, the National Guitar Workshop as well as the Berklee College of Music’s Guitar Week. He’s also authored his own books, Right Hand Drive and The Improviser’s Path.

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Latest from Damian:

This week, a reader asks Damian for advice on mastering the three-finger technique. This is something Damian has spent a lot of time on and offers up a great how-to for exploring every possible variation.

Damian recently had a conversation with a student who wasn't feeling inspired musically. Damian asked him what he was listening to, and discovered the problem was a lack of exposure to new ideas and music. So he wrote this week's column in response to that.

As of tomorrow, we’ve been publishing for 10 years, and this has always been a topic in the comments. (A little less now, but still a thing.) This week, Damian tackles a question from a reader: “Why Isn’t Solo Bass More Accepted?”

A reader asked Damian “How did you come to settle on your voice?” While Damian has written about fostering the development of your “voice” in the past, he’s never covered what your “voice” really is. So that’s what he did in this new column.

For this week’s “Ask” column, Damian decided to do it as more of a PSA - on musicianship, serving the song, and a trend he’s seeing that is sometimes counter to those things. Check out what he calls “Mugging for the Camera on Stage”

A reader is dealing with a bandleader (pianist) who is rewriting the bass parts and asking them to be played that way. He asked Damian for advice on how to cope with this situation. Check out what Damian has to say.